El Paso County to Consider Pot Ban

As the state wrestles with how to regulate recreational pot use, El Paso County commissioners plan to consider a ban on commercial marijuana when they meet tomorrow. KRCC’s Liz Ruskin reports.

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The proposed ordinance would bar marijuana grow operations and retail stores in UNincorporated areas. County spokesman Dave Rose says the new constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana allows counties to opt out of the commercial provisions.

“They do not have the option, for example, to ban the recreation use of marijuana as envisioned by Amendment 64, but they do have the specific authority to limit or prohibit any of these aspects of the business: retail sales, cultivation, that sort of thing.”

A separate measure would ban use and possession of marijuana in county buildings and parks. The commissioners are scheduled to consider both items Tuesday afternoon. Colorado voters soundly approved Amendment 64 in November, but it passed in El Paso County by just 10 votes. In the unincorporated parts of the county, a majority of voters rejected it.

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